Chapter 11 #2
“What am I to do in the meantime? He doesn’t tell me what he likes, he has zero interest in fixing up his room…
I mean, he brought crap with him, which is still sitting in boxes.
I’m fucking clueless in breaking through to him.
You managed to get him to talk with no effort whatsoever. God, I suck at this.”
“To be fair, he isn’t forced to live with me. He’s still trying to figure out if he can trust you, and remember, Cal, he’s in a lot of pain.”
“I know…” he growls. “I know he’s hurting. Hell, I miss them, too.”
“I’m sure Braeden will come around. Give him time. But don’t give up on him. Keep trying to break through his walls. He will eventually open up more. You have to be patient.”
“Yeah… I get that. At least I have a court date next week. It’s a preliminary hearing, but it’s a start.”
“Excellent. They won’t waste time getting Braeden settled in. The sooner, the better.”
Calvin’s phone starts ringing. He snags it from where it’s sitting on the counter of the kitchen island, looks at the screen, and scowls. Usually, he’s nonchalant, snarking, and wears a perpetual smirk, so this look is new and off-putting.
“Fucking hell. She doesn’t know when to quit.”
“Who?”
Yeah, I’m nosy as heck.
“My mother.”
Mother? He can go to her for help, right? However, his reaction to her calling says otherwise. “I take it you two aren’t close?”
He scoffs and shoves aside his phone, not answering it.
“She would say we are. I’m all she has. Well, we have family she doesn’t talk to at all.
Most likely, they’ve cut her off. And somehow she manages to guilt me into talking to her and being there when she needs me.
I love her, but every time we talk, I feel diminished and…
” His smile is brief. “Sorry, that was TMI. You don’t need to know my life story with my mother. ”
Great, I’m even more curious, but now I can’t ask.
“I bet your parents are super fantastic,” he huffs like a petulant child with folded arms and everything.
I can’t help but chuckle again. “Yeah, they’re pretty great.
I’m not sure what I’d do without them, honestly.
” Maybe if I open up a bit about my life, Calvin will, too.
“When Malcolm and I separated, it was hard to be strong for the kids. They needed me more than ever, but at least I had my parents and friends to fall back on.”
“Deadbeat dad, huh?”
“Yeah, you could say that. I thought after the divorce, he’d stick it out for the kids, but nope. He completely vanished.”
“What a colossal prick.”
I snort a laugh at that. It’s been a long time since I’d been able to laugh at my predicament. “That’s putting it mildly. I was pretty shocked, to be honest. I’m not sure how I didn’t see that coming.”
The kitchen soon fills up with the aroma of baked fish as we sit there awkwardly and in silence after we run out of things to say.
So far, Calvin and I are fine as long as we’re talking, but in silence, not so much.
Maybe it’s just me. My life is filled with noise. Perhaps I’m not used to the quiet.
I look around his kitchen, glancing at him in shorts that expose miles of tanned legs dusted with golden hair. He clearly exercises more than I do.
“I had a relationship once,” he says eventually.
“A good one, or so I thought.” His eyes wander toward the kitchen window that faces into the woods behind our homes.
“I’m not sure what’s worse—leaving you high and dry or cheating on you with other men.
Not to diminish what you went through, but I think I would’ve preferred a divorce and him vanishing instead of knowing all the holes he shoved his cock into and then fucking me. ”
“Jesus.”
That would explain why he’s single and sleeps around. He clearly has no interest in having a repeat of that. I struggle with a desire to commit myself, but if I were in his shoes? I’d run for the hills when things got serious. “I can imagine how hard it’d be to trust anyone again.”
“Yep, you got it. Once you find out, you have to get tested, then you wait for weeks with bated breath until you finally get all your results in, praying to fuck you don’t have HIV. Good thing it’s very treatable, but still, no one should have to go through that.”
“Jeez, I’m sorry. If I had a drink, we could do a cheer to curse our exes.”
He looks at me with a smile that meets his eyes. “I’ll take you up on that next time.”
We hear shuffling behind us, so we turn to find Braeden, standing in the entryway to the kitchen.
“Hey, kiddo,” Calvin says, standing and rummaging around in his fridge with the rushed chaos of a hamster. “Can I get you something to eat? Are you thirsty? Do you need something from the store? I can order something.”
“Cal,” I say gently, trying not to laugh. What a night-and-day difference from before. All I saw was a cocky jerkface. What I see now is someone who’s desperately trying, and maybe he’s deeper than I originally presumed. “The casserole should be nearly done.”
He closes the fridge and winces. “Oh… right.”
“Braeden, I brought some dinner over. It’ll be ready in a minute. Would you like to sit with us and wait?”
He says nothing as he sits on one of the stools at the kitchen island and starts scrolling through his phone. At least he’s present instead of hiding.
“Thanks,” Calvin mouths to me as he grabs a couple of plates and pulls out the tuna casserole with oven mitts.
“You’re welcome. Anyway, I’d better run and grab my kiddos. Enjoy dinner.”
“I’ll walk you out.”
He sets the casserole dish on the stovetop and guides me out. When we reach the door, he places a hand on my shoulder. Again, that weird tingling travels up my arm and straight to my spine. I mentally shrug it off. I don’t need any more tingles than what Leo provides.
“I swear to god, you’re my muse, Tiger. I’m going to adopt you as mine to help me with Braeden,” he says. “You’re stuck with me.”
I chuckle, shake my head, and pat his back. “Weirdo. You’re going to be fine. Call me if you need anything.”